Demand for bandwidth by enterprises and individual consumers continues to experience exponential growth. To meet this demand efficiently and economically, data centers have to achieve ultra-high density cabling with low loss budgets. Fiber optics have become the standard cabling medium used by data centers to meet the growing needs for data volume and transmission speeds. Many installations, such as transmission towers or relay sites, however require electrical connections as well to power receivers and transmitters, for example. Signal towers may often be located at remote distances from telecom cation switching equipment and power connections, requiring that both signal conductors and power conductors be run between the signal tower switching equipment.
Fiber optic connectors are provided for connecting optical fibers for transmitting light signals for data transmission, while electrical connectors are provided for connecting electrical conductors to power any electrically operated equipment. While data transmission may still be done with electrical conductors, with an increase in the number of broadband wireless installations, more fiber optic cables have been stalled for transmitting data signals between signal towers and switching equipment. Electrical data conducting lines are typically run separately from power lines to minimize EMF interference and shielding constraints. Optical fibers of such systems have also typically been installed separately from electric power conductors, such that separate fiber optic connectors and electric power connectors were provided for connecting optical fibers and for connecting electric power conductors, respectively.
Hybrid connectors having both optical fiber and electrical connectors included in a single connector eliminate the need for providing two separate connectors. Electric wires and fiber optic cables may be run together in a single cable, and the ends of the cable may be terminated with a single hybrid connector that is configured to be coupled with an adapter to connect the optical transmission paths of the optical cable to other fiber optic cables or devices, and simultaneously connect the electrical wires to other electrical wires or devices. An adapter generally includes a housing, or portion of a housing, having at least one port which is configured to receive and hold a connector to facilitate the optical and/or electrical connection of one connector to another connector or other device. Adapters may be used to facilitate connections contained within a chassis. The term “chassis” as used herein broadly refers to a containment structure for housing electrical components or switching components.
In external applications wherein the adapters and connectors may be exposed to weather, particularly rain or moisture in general, the connectors may be configured as ingress protection (IP) connectors that are waterproof. A standard for such connectors may be an OVDA connector. While each of the various types of optical fiber connectors is different in construction, in order to minimize tooling and manufacturing costs, while also minimizing inventory (the number/variety of parts on hand), there is a need for a connector system having a single adapter and a single connector housing component that is mateable with the adapter, wherein the connector housing is configured to receive any of a plurality of different connector types (fiber optic and/or electrical) therein for mating of the connectors with other connectors.